THE PUBLIC SERVANT by Jennifer Brewin, Haley McGee, Sarah McVie and Amy Rutherford (Common Boots/Nightwood). At Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley). Runs to April 3. $18-$35. 416-368-3110, canadianstage.com. See listings. Rating: NNN
The Public Servant is a paean to those in the federal civil service, people – in this case, women – whose job it is to fearlessly advise on and loyally implement policies for Canadians’ well-being.
The fact that the workers are so often stymied and beaten down is both the comedy and the tragedy of this collectively written show, with the emphasis on laughs.
Madge (Amy Keating) is a keener, new to her job as researcher/analyst and in love with everything Canadian. Higher up is Lois (Sarah McVie), a good-natured, maternal figure who focuses on properly formatted documents and always has candy on her desk to share. At the top of this particular hierarchy is Cynthia (Amy Rutherford), a long-term civil servant whose career has degenerated from defender of the rights of battered women to gruff, no-nonsense boss who’ll shuffle papers until her retirement.
Under director Jennifer Brewin, who wrote the show with McVie, Rutherford and Haley McGee, the three actors have some amusing turns: a tour of the supplies closet, finding a wardrobe for the office and the intricacies of trying to collate a much-changed document.
Each performer understands the nuances of her central character (McVie and Rutherford also play several others). Watch how the optimism of Keating’s Madge get blunted by the nonsensical decisions made at a higher level, or how McVie’s organized, romantic Lois tries hard to connect with a vain fellow worker she considers a Kevin Costner look-alike. When that doesn’t pan out, she reveals how that she’s watching her weight so she can snag someone… anyone.
Rutherford’s Cynthia, the humourless, computer-challenged department head, her face rather than her lips almost constantly pursed, has one of the show’s best scenes. Contrasting her Camelot moment in government with the frustrating current civil service, she recalls, “We pushed policy, not paper.”
The show could use more of those sobering, sharp moments, another of which takes place when two ruthless women, Jackie and Janis, play good cop-bad cop and push the now wiser Madge toward professional decisions she never expected to make.
And while the script intentionally avoids reference to any specific political party, I wish there’d been at least a nod to Justin Trudeau’s election and the possibility of change in the system.
